Search Results for: Ocean

The next generation of artificial bone may rely on a few secrets from the sea. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have harnessed the way seawater freezes to develop a porous, scaffolding-like material that is four times stronger than material currently used in synthetic bone.

Although still in the investigational stages, variations of this substance could also be used in a myriad of applications in which strengt

Using a fleet of NASA and other satellites as well as aircraft and other observations, scientists were able to unlock the secret of Hurricane Lili’s unexpected, rapid weakening as she churned toward a Louisiana landfall in 2002. The data from multiple satellites enabled researchers to see dry air move into the storm’s low levels, partially explaining why Lili weakened rapidly.

This study focuses on the rapid weakening of Hurricane Lili over the Gulf of Mexico beginning early on

The most powerful earthquakes – such as those that shook Indonesia in 2004, Alaska in 1964, Chile in 1960 and the Pacific Northwest in 1700 – occur in subduction zones, areas of the sea floor just offshore where two tectonic plates meet and one dives beneath the other.

But not all subduction zones are created equal, and University of Washington researchers believe they have found a key to determine which subduction zones – or which specific areas within a subduction zone – migh

An ambitious ESA project to chart ten years in the life of the Earth’s vegetation has reached a midway point, with participants and end-users having met to review progress so far. Harnessing many terabytes of satellite data, the GLOBCARBON project is intended to hone the accuracy of climate change forecasting.

GLOBCARBON involves the development of a service to generate fully calibrated estimates of land products based on a variety of Earth Observation data, suitable for a

Scientists use genomics to reveal secrets of ocean microbes

Scientists have sequenced and compared the genomes of planktonic microbes living throughout the water column in the Pacific Ocean. The pioneering study yielded insight into the specialization of microbial communities at each depth–ranging from 40 to more than 13,000 feet.

“By reading the information stored in the genomes of entire microbial communities, we can begin to measure the pulse of this marine ecosys

One of the paradoxes of recent explorations of the Martian surface is that the more we see of the planet, the more it looks like Earth, despite a very big difference: Complex life forms have existed for billions of years on Earth, while Mars never saw life bigger than a microbe, if that.

“The rounded hills, meandering stream channels, deltas and alluvial fans are all shockingly familiar,” said William E. Dietrich, professor of earth and planetary science at the University of Ca